The invention relates to deagglomerated and readily dispersible platelet-like substrates having a high degree of softness.
Platelet-like substrates, that is to say materials having a relatively low thickness in comparison with their length and width, are employed in many areas of industry. Thus, for example, platelet-like minerals, such as, for example, mica or talc, are employed in finely divided form as fillers for plastics. Platelet-like pigments, such as, for example, mica platelets coated with metal oxides or platelet-like iron oxide, are used both for pigmenting, for example, lacquers, paints, plastics and the like and in cosmetic formulations.
A fundamental problem is the marked tendency of such platelet-like substrates to form agglomerates in which the substrates lie on top of one another in a stack and because of strong adhesion can be separated again only with difficulty. This is all the more serious since high shearing forces must not be exerted during incorporation of platelet-like substrates into formulations because the thin substrates are easily destroyed.
Chemical coatings on the surface of such substrates have hitherto been proposed in particular for preventing agglomeration, which manifests itself both by non-uniform pigmenting of the formulations and, in the case of cosmetics, by an unpleasant feeling on the skin. Further, this can lead to an undesirable impairment of the optical properties, especially in case of platelet-like nacreous pigments. Nevertheless, in many cases even such methods are not successful, so that such substrates can be offered only in the form of suspensions and not in dry form.